NaNoNiMoDooDa 2020 Update
It's been 15 days since NaNoWriMo started. I'm dropping by to say "hey!" to you, that "all's fine" and that I'm "hitting targets".
I took part in NaNoWriMo a few times in the 2000s, with varying levels of success. I only managed to complete it in 2008 and vowed after that never to do it again, mostly because of how much my hands hurt by the end.
Every time I took on the challenge I learnt something new about myself and my writing process. Back then, I was always a "pantser" (approaching the challenge with nothing prepared, maybe just an idea of what I wanted to write.) For 2008, I had the idea for the novel I'm still working on (a horror novel set in London's boating community - think Alfred Hitchcock meets "Jaws" on a narrowboat) but the way I approached each day involved random images used as creative prompts. I didn't know my characters, didn't know where i was going - it was all a bit random by the end.
I shelved that novel and only took it up again in 2015, when I returned to London after my year away in Brazil. I got notebooks, filled them up with notes on the novel and new chapters. But work was never fully focused as "London Life" remained firmly centre stage, with its socialising, work, etc.
Since the pandemic started I've been dedicating my mornings to the novel, working between 7am and 9am. I realised that a lot of material had been generated, that I knew my characters well by now, but needed to put everything down in some chronological order. Which is when the idea of taking part in NaNoWriMo 2020 came up.
For the last two weeks of October I went through my notes and created cards featuring info on each chapter. I then put them in order and have now been using them each morning as prompts for the chapter I need to write that day. They have been very helpful, especially on days when I feel less than inspired to type out 1666 words (the minimum you need to type a day if you want to hit 50,000 words by the end of the month.)
Three things I've learned so far this month:
I took part in NaNoWriMo a few times in the 2000s, with varying levels of success. I only managed to complete it in 2008 and vowed after that never to do it again, mostly because of how much my hands hurt by the end.
Every time I took on the challenge I learnt something new about myself and my writing process. Back then, I was always a "pantser" (approaching the challenge with nothing prepared, maybe just an idea of what I wanted to write.) For 2008, I had the idea for the novel I'm still working on (a horror novel set in London's boating community - think Alfred Hitchcock meets "Jaws" on a narrowboat) but the way I approached each day involved random images used as creative prompts. I didn't know my characters, didn't know where i was going - it was all a bit random by the end.
I shelved that novel and only took it up again in 2015, when I returned to London after my year away in Brazil. I got notebooks, filled them up with notes on the novel and new chapters. But work was never fully focused as "London Life" remained firmly centre stage, with its socialising, work, etc.
Since the pandemic started I've been dedicating my mornings to the novel, working between 7am and 9am. I realised that a lot of material had been generated, that I knew my characters well by now, but needed to put everything down in some chronological order. Which is when the idea of taking part in NaNoWriMo 2020 came up.
For the last two weeks of October I went through my notes and created cards featuring info on each chapter. I then put them in order and have now been using them each morning as prompts for the chapter I need to write that day. They have been very helpful, especially on days when I feel less than inspired to type out 1666 words (the minimum you need to type a day if you want to hit 50,000 words by the end of the month.)
Three things I've learned so far this month:
- It's really good to take on this type of project with some kind of road map.
- Because your mind is more focused on the story, solutions will come up to plot problems you couldn't form before.
- New characters will show up and make their presence felt.